This volume grew out of the 36th International LAUD Symposium, which was held in March 2014 at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Landau, Germany. There is general consensus among language experts that slightly more than half of today’s 7,000 languages are under severe threat of extinction even within fifty to one hundred years. The 13 papers contained in this volume explore the dramatic loss of linguistic diversity, why this matters, and what can be done and achieved to document and support endangered languages especially in the context of an ever increasing globalized world. The issue of vanishing languages is discussed from a variety of methodologies and perspectives: sociolinguistics, language ecology, language contact, language policy/planning, attitudes and linguistic inequalities.
Contents: Modupe M. Alimi: Micro language planning, minority languages and advocacy groups in Botswana – Dörte Borchers: Linguistic rights and mother tongue education in post-civil war Nepal – Hilda Kebeya-Omondi/Fridah Kanana Erastus: Devolution of governance and linguistic (in)equalities in Kenya – Anna Ghimenton/Giovanni Depau: Ideologies and expressed attitudes in the Internet: Comparing ethnic identities in two regional communities (Veneto and Sardinia) – Neele Mundt: Endangering indigenous languages: An empirical study of language attitudes and identity in post-colonial Cameroon – Britta Schneider: Language ideologies beyond ethnicity - Observing popular music styles and their potential relevance for understanding processes of endangerment – Eeva Sippola: Rap and resistance in Chabacano – Danuta Stanulewicz/Malgorzata Smentek: The Kashubian language at school: Facts and attitudes – Heiko Marten/Santina Lazdina: Latgalian in Latvia: How a minority language community gains voice during societal negotiations about the status of two major languages – Maria Rieder: The case of Cant: The Irish Travellers and their linguistic repertoire in the context of a changing cultural identity – Esther Senayon: Non-native speaker mother, personal family efforts and language maintenance: The case of Ogu (Nigeria) in my family – Gideon Sunday Omachonu: Language endangerment in Northern Nigeria: The case of Igala – Eileen Lee: Linguistic diversity and endangerment in Malaysia: The case of Papia Kristang.
